Just go to http://soldersmoke.com. On that archive page, just click on the blue hyperlinks and your audio player should play that episode.
http://soldersmoke.com
Thanks to Armand WA1UQO for alerting me to this. I really liked the book -- "Crystal Fire" -- that this 1999 video is loosely based on. I'm also a fan of the narrator, Ira Flatow, whose melodious voice is heard each week on NPR's excellent "Science Friday" radio show. A few observations and thoughts on the video: -- I liked the irreverant Calypso song "Hell's Bells Laboratory." It looks like those folks had a lot of fun. And wow, Shockly's secretary was named Betty Sparks. TRGHS. -- I have the same big Variac on my bench. And I have one of those "third hand" devices. -- I'd like to build my own replica of the point contact device with the triangular piece of lucite and the gold foil. -- While Shockley seems to be the real bad guy in this story (he seems to have all the bad characteristics of David Sarnoff, Lee DeForest, and Steve Jobs), I liked the his use of "physical intuition" to understand devices and the problems they were meant to solve. -- The image of the two Japanese founders of Sony working in the late 1940's in a bombed out department store was very powerful. -- Although I came on the scence a bit later, I WAS one of those kids who used a transistor radio and an earphone to surreptitiously listen to rock-and-roll music. -- "More transistors are made each year than raindrops fall on California." Hmmm.... More info here: http://www.pbs.org/transistor/ Extra interviews: http://www.pbs.org/transistor/tv/index.html
I open Chapter 3 of my book "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" with some quotes from Cliff Stoll: "Where's the joy of mechanics and electricity, the creation of real things? Who are the tinkerers with a lust for electronics?" Well Cliff, that would be us! I'm glad to see in the (obviously) recent video that OM Still has not lost his passion for electronics. You guys will like this one. Keep 'em comin' Cliff!
The Woz scared me for a second -- I tought he was going to leave a hot iron on the desk amidst paper and other flamable items. But no -- he put the soldering iron in its holder. Later we hear Woz talking about the need to update schematic diagrams. And I was esepcially taken by the use of wooden enclosures for electronic projects. My BITX rigs have followed the Apple example.
Hack-A-Day had a piece on Cliff Stoll of "The Cuckoo's Egg" and "Silicon Snake Oil" fame. I read these books years ago. I included a quote from Cliff on page 45 of the SolderSmoke book (the quote seemed to foreshadow my aversion to SDR). I didn't know that NOVA produced an hour-long program on Stoll's Cuckoo's Egg adventures. It is really good. Many of those involved play themselves in the video. Very cool. See above. I checked Cliff's QRZ.com page. We wrote several years ago that Cliff has THE KNACK. Note below his preference for thermatrons and the affection for Heathkits. Diagnosis confirmed.
From QRZ.com:
Hi gang! This is Cliff Stoll, K7TA
Way back in the Jurassic, I was licensed as WN2PSX, in Buffalo NY. Got my general ticket around 1967 as WB2PSX, and helped build ham radio stations at Hutch-Tech high school, University/Buffalo, and University of Arizona. When I went to Tucson for grad school, I passed my extra ticket and snagged the call K7TA (back when this meant 20wpm cw). I held a first-class commercial ticket, which let me engineer at WBFO radio, but I don't know if commercial licenses even exist anymore.
I now live in Oakland California, and occasionally get on the cw lowbands with old heathkit gear ... just rebuilt my novice NC-270 receiver with filaments that glow in the dark. Gotta restring my 40 meter dipole that came down in a windstorm.
You can guess that I'm pretty much retired. Along the way, I've worked in FM radio, planetary physics, computing, writing, speaking, teaching, and math. Best way to reach me is through my website www.kleinbottle.com
I've been working with an Arduino today. Seeing this video makes me feel like such an APPLIANCE OPERATOR. FB OM! No store-bought mystery boxes for him! Thanks to Steve N8NM for alerting us to the magnificent project. More details here: http://www.popsci.com/man-builds-huge-megaprocessor
Hackaday has an article today that is, for me, very timely. In our last podcast, Pete and I were discussing the meaning of the word "homebrew" in the world of Software Defined Radio. As always, Pete was closer to the cutting edge, while I remain mired in Ludite (one D please!) curmudgeonism, committed to RADICAL FUNDAMENTALIST HOMEBREWING. No chips and no menus for me please.
Today, the Hackaday guys came to my rescue with a blast from the past. Homebrew computers! Not that simple "buy a mo-bo and plug in some boards" stuff. No, REAL homebrew, so HB that they even made their own components. 1968. I can dig it! I should have gone down this road. I had the C.L. Stong book "The Amateur Scientist" IN MY HANDS. It had some great articles about relay-based computers. I could have been rich!
From Wikipedia: Shannon showed an inclination towards mechanical and electrical things. His best subjects were science and mathematics, and at home he constructed such devices as models of planes, a radio-controlled model boat and a wireless telegraph system to a friend's house a half-mile away. While growing up, he also worked as a messenger for the Western Union company. His childhood hero was Thomas Edison, whom he later learned was a distant cousin. Both were descendants of John Ogden (1609–1682), a colonial leader and an ancestor of many distinguished people.
After their initial meeting, Thorp says, "we got right to it," and he spent about half his time for the next eight months working away with Shannon in that basement lab in Shannon's house, on one of Massachusetts' Mystic Lakes. In his paper, Thorp described the lab as a "gadgeteer's paradise," with what he estimated to be about a hundred thousand dollars' worth of electronic, electrical and mechanical items. The regulation roulette wheel, ordered from Reno for $1,500, was set up on an old slate billiard table.
Thorp describes Shannon as the "ultimate gadgeteer," and recalled in his paper that the man he met in that office was a "thinnish alert man of middle height and build, somewhat sharp-featured," and that "his eyes had a genial crinkle and the brows suggested puckish incisive humor." That humor would become evident as the two worked together at the house on the lake. Thorp wrote that Shannon taught him to juggle three balls, and that he rode a unicycle on a steel cable strung between two tree stumps. "He later reached his goal," he wrote, "which was to juggle the balls while riding the unicycle on the tightrope."
We talk a lot about putting soul in our new machines. The phrase comes from a book by Tracy Kidder. Ira Flatow of NPR's Science Friday recently took a new look at this book. There are TWO recordings in this link. Both are worth listening to. The second is an interview with the author, conducted at Google HQ in New York City. Woz chimes in.
At about 6:43 in the second interview, Ira Flatow and Tracy Kidder get into a little argument about how to pronounce the word "kludge." I'm with Ira -- the fact that he pronounces it this way makes me think that we are using a New York, or at least and East Coast pronunciation.
I am a big fan of Tracy Kidder. His "Mountains Beyond Mountains" is about Dr. Paul Farmer, a heroic physician who has dedicated his life to treating the poor people of Haiti. "My Detachment" is about Kidder's stint as an army officer in Vietnam. Kidder and his editor wrote a nice book about the crafts of writing and editing: "Good Prose." "Strength in What Remains" is about the genocide in Burundi.
Michael Rainey alerted me to Ira Flatow's Science Friday interview with author Walter Isaacson. I'm reading Isaacson's new book "The Innovators" (appropriately, on my Iphone 5). The book is very good, with surprisingly frequent references to ham radio. Flatow's interview with Isaacson is also quite good, and will give you a better idea of what the book is about. Here it is. It is worth a listen: http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/10/24/2014/meet-the-innovators-who-made-the-digital-revolution.html
From the site:I understood these computers well, but the processor itself was still a mystery. I wanted to understand that part too, at the logic gate level. I sometimes thought about making my own processor, and designed small instruction sets and instruction formats. But the task seemed beyond the grasp of a hobbyist such as myself.
We have one of these (I'm sure many of you guys have one also). I'm not really a computer guy, but I've been holding onto this thing because 1) it has always seemed to me to have a very high "cool tech" feel to it and 2) I figured that Billy or Maria might someday take an interest. Billy is now deep into his PC build, and is developing what looks like a computer-focused shack up in his room. So the Model 100 has moved up there.
I discovered SolderSmoke a few years ago by listening to another pod cast. Ever since, I have been hooked on this podcast and listen to it whenever I have time. I have finally caught up and finished episode 142 today. I love the enthusiasm and spirit of discovery and creation that goes into the stories in SS.
The first time I heard about amateur radio was in high school. It seemed to be a overly nerdy thing at the time and I wasn't sure what it was. However, after I started listening to SS, I discovered that this is something that I wanted to do. So, on New Years Eve with the kind help of a local examiner (Ori, VA3XW), I wrote my basic and advanced exam and passed with honours. In Canada, we only have 3 categories: basic, advanced and morse code. I am very excited about this and I am glad that SS made me make the jump.
You know, every time the word knack comes up, it is portrayed in a negative way. Someone is "afflicted" with the knack or shows knackish "symptoms" as if it was a horrible disease. I would like to change this perspective.
I hereby declare myself blessed with the knack. Ever since I was a kid, I disassembled various electronics around the house (to the dismay of my parents). I knew when I was doing something right when I could put something back together and it worked, or later, it worked better than before. Despite my parents' persuasion to pursue other branches of non-technical studies, I made up my mind to study electrical engineering (must have been a teenage rebellion thing). Nonetheless I finished school and found a job doing electronics design which I love. Some of the people that you meet in this field are just phenomenal. It has been a good career decision and I think it is truly amazing. Thus, I see the knack as being a gift which I was fortunate enough to hold.
I think one of the most important aspect of the knack is the desire to understand and have self reliance on what we use on a daily basis. I repair my own bikes and I've never bought a ready made computer. Having a home machine shop greatly helps in this regard too. My first oscilloscope I designed and built myself: http://yyao.ca/projects/oscilloscope/ I have also resolved to build my first rig instead of buying one. However, work is really busy these days, and it doesn't look like I will be able to do this soon. One of these days, I will construct my own rig and wiggle the ether.
I am currently visiting Silicon Valley here in California. There is much to visit and do here. For example, the De Anza Flea Market happens every 2nd Saturday (which is my first introduction to a swap meet): http://www.electronicsfleamarket.com/
On top of that, there are a lot of trade shows which you can go to check out the latest and greatest of test equipment. They don't have the same feel as some of my analog oscilloscopes, but they are shiny. As you can see, this is a paradise for anyone blessed with the knack.
Anyhow, this email is long enough and I hope your eyes haven't glazed over yet. My best regards to you, Billy, Maria and your wife.
Here is a another nice video, this one about Ralph Baer, one of the pioneers of video games. At age 90 Ralph is still creating things at his workbench.
One reason for wanting to get Colossus working in 1996 was that for far too long the Americans have got away with the myth that the ENIAC was the first large-scale electronic digital calculator in the world. It was not, but they got away with it because Colossus was kept secret until the 1970s. As 1996 was the 50th anniversary o the switch-on of ENIAC I made sure that Colossus was rebuilt and working in Bletchley Park, just as it was in 1944.
There has been a stunned silence from across the water!
"SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" is now available as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.
Here's the site:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V9FIVW
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